Partial solar eclipse Aug 2026

On the evening of 12 August 2026 there was a partial solar eclipse, amounting to about 95% in the UK. Full coverage was seen in Spain and Iceland. 

In this eclipse the sun was covered by the moon. It was the fullest solar eclipse visible from the UK and Ireland since 1999 (which I missed).

I watched it from Worthing pier in West Sussex, on the south coast of England. Luckily I still had some solar eclipse glasses from an eclipse on 29 March 2025. This was a partial solar eclipse and I was on a cruise ship, sailing north from the Azores to UK. It had been too cloudy to see the sun.

In Worthing, the eclipse began at about 6.18pm and reached its maximum at 7.14pm, lasting around one hour and 49 minutes in total. There had been so much build up in the media, including how it would get dark and go quiet and the birds stop singing and go to bed. In reality it didn't get very dark as the coverage was not total. But it did get noticeably cooler, especially was England was in its 5th heatwave of the summer.

I took the photos on my phone, so they are not good, but are better than nothing!

Some penguin poses

 I still have very fond memories of my day spent in the Falklands in 2023, when I went to see the penguins. See my blog post.

Since then, whilst looking at the photos, I had a silly moment giving captions to some of the penguins -

hen pecked husband and nagging wife

Gentoo on a mission

worn out

synchronized surfing

the 4 tenors rehearse

mothers meeting

waiting for the show to start

neck exercises

Total lunar eclipse - blood moon - 2025 Sept

 On the evening of 7 Sept 2025 there was a total lunar eclipse, UK time. It was the longest total lunar eclipse since 2022. Although it was visible in the UK, the moon didn't rise until after 7.30 pm by which time the maximum eclipse had passed. Also it was cloudy and the moon wasn't visible until 8.30 pm.

A lunar eclipse is known as a blood moon, although didn't appear red by the time I saw it. The sun, earth and the moon align in a straight line, with sunlight casting a reddish-brown hue on the moon.

Animals in Namibia

 I am lazy to do a proper blog on the animals I saw in Namibia, so here are some random photos, in no particular order.

Looking at prey but not hungry, already got a full belly